


Under the Same Moon

by AndyArchives



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Autistic Leonard "Bones" McCoy, Autistic Spock (Star Trek), Human Spock (Star Trek), M/M, Sleepovers, implied eventual Mcspirk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:27:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28906347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndyArchives/pseuds/AndyArchives
Summary: Amanda decides to encourage Spock to make friends by setting him up for a sleepover with his schoolmates.
Relationships: James T. Kirk/Leonard "Bones" McCoy, James T. Kirk/Spock, Leonard "Bones" McCoy/Spock
Comments: 14
Kudos: 66





	1. The Fight Jar

**Author's Note:**

> We don’t recognize tos’s canonical age gaps in this house. We pretend they’re all the same age so they can go to prom together

“Mother, for the final time,” said Spock, fidgeting with the handles of his backpack. “I do not know these people as well as you think I do.”

“It’s not about how well you know them yet, sweetie,” Amanda said, reaching upwards to fix a few out-of-place strands of hair on Spock’s head. 

Spock didn’t respond to her as they ascended the steps to his schoolmate Leonard’s house.

“Besides,” she said, with a familiar, knowing look. “Your lab partner will be there too. Jim, remember? If all else fails, you can work on your homework together.”

This silenced him effectively. His mother was far too good at using his own fixation on logic against him when trying to get him to do something.

A woman in a button-down denim shirt answered the door. Her hair was the same soft brown as her son’s and pulled back in a tousled bun. She was a short and stately woman with an easy smile.

“Amanda!” She exclaimed, and hugged Spock’s mother on sight. “I’m so glad you came,” she said. “For a moment I was afraid you would back out.”

They didn’t say it with their words, but Spock knew by “you,” Leonard’s mother was referring to him. 

“And Spock!” She said, “Good to meet’cha.” She reached out and shook his hand. “The boys are upstairs, first door on the left.”

Spock glanced at his mother, his mouth tense as he waited for her to give him the silent go-ahead to head upstairs.

She gave the nod, and he headed towards the stairs silently. He took his time going upwards, not half as excited about this act as he knew his mother was. 

When he opened the door, Leonard and Jim were piled on top of each other, each holding Nintendo switch controllers and yelling about...something he definitely had to hear again to be sure he heard correctly. As he set his bag down, he finally heard Leonard say: “so help me god, Jim, those flowers aren’t for digging up, I told you already!”

“I just really need more orange windflowers, man, why are you being so stingy?”

“You get your flowers after you finish crafting the mushroom furniture set for me, not before. That was our deal.” 

Spock stood up straight and got a good look at the two of them, piled on their stomachs on the bed. Jim was lying on top of Leonard, his leg hooked over his waist and his elbow awkwardly jammed into his ear. Leonard didn’t seem nearly as annoyed as one might normally be in his position.

“Oh hey, it’s Spock! Hey, Spock!” said Jim. He flashed him a sparkling smile from the bed and rolled off of Leonard. He approached Spock and clapped him on the back. 

“What’s up?” asked Leonard, still lying on the bed. “Jim was just in the process of bruising my kidneys and cheating me on a trade.”

“I was not cheating you! I just need to go back to my town and get more mushrooms,” said Jim, throwing his hands up in surrender.

Leonard rolled his eyes. “Tell that to the peaches you owe me.”

“Nevermind him, he’s a bit of a cranky pants,” said Jim, turning to Spock with a relaxed smile. “We were just playing a game that’s supposed to be calming, but Bones can’t do anything calmly.”

“I can so,” Leonard protested, sitting up in bed. “The problem is he plays in a fashion that stresses me the hell out. Here, you take a crack at it.”

Leonard—or ‘Bones,’ if he ever felt close enough to him—handed Spock the controller. Spock instantly began to panic, holding the controller like a foreign object.

“Lemme show ya,” said Jim, showing Spock how he was holding his own controller.

Spock mimicked the hand placement. Bones evacuated his own spot and stood next to Spock as he got comfortable on the bed. 

“This one is for moving the character and this is for shaking trees. I recommend shaking fruit trees and collecting the harvest.”

Bones showed Spock which corresponding buttons worked and watched the little brown haired, bright-eyed avatar Leonard had been playing as run around a bright green landscape. There were little animal characters he found walking around the town. He talked to a spotted deer named Fauna and a pink rhinoceros with a strawberry for a horn named Meringue.

The game played a peaceful tune, and he followed Jim’s avatar all over the island, feeling soothed by the patter of his avatar’s footprints and the music and the sound of wind. He learned how to fish, how to shoot balloons out of the sky, and enjoyed listening to the banter when Jim finished making the furniture set for Leonard and was finally allowed to dig up the flowers he’d been promised in return.

Leonard poked his head out of his bedroom door and looked towards the downstairs area. 

“Kitchen’s free,” said Leonard, “hey Spock, do you have any major allergies?”

Spock’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Uh...no. I just don’t eat meat.”

“Any preferences? We bake your standard chocolate chip cookies pretty well, but you’re the guest.”

“Oh,” said Spock, remembering once, as a child, tasting a chocolate his older brother Sybok had snuck in. “I like chocolate.”

“Double chocolate chip. Done. Oh, Jim? Did you describe the fight jar yet? 

“The...fight jar?” asked Spock, concern dipping slightly into his voice.

“I’ll explain it, Bones, go get started.”

Spock looked to Jim for help as Bones left with a little grumble.

“So the fight jar is actually for preventing fights, despite its name. We named it the fighting jar because we thought it sounded cool.”

“What is it for?”

“Take a look” he said, pointing to a little mason jar at the edge near Bones’s hand-me-down tv. Spock was amazed by the fact Leonard was allowed to have a television in his room, but dismissed the thought quickly.

“During any time of the night when you feel comfortable,” he continued, “you can write little compliments towards some of the people at the sleepover on post-it notes. You just put their initials on the outside after folding them. If you want. No pressure, since you’re a first-timer but expect to get a couple notes from me and Bones. Anyway, we do it so that in case we get in a fight we can read the nice notes from earlier and feel better and what not. Leonard is a softie, so it’s pretty foolproof.”

“Okay,” said Spock. “What about you? Are... you a softie, too?”

“Of course!” said Jim, “I’m the one who started the tradition.” He looked almost proud of the fact. 

“Can you give me a moment?” asked Spock. 

“Sure thing, buddy!” said Jim, flashing him another sweet smile. He clapped Spock on the shoulder and headed downstairs.

Spock felt a pull of anxiety in his chest as he worked to keep a cool facade. He picked up a post-it note and the pen beside the jar. He scribbled down Jim and Leonard’s initials on the back and flipped it over, sticky side up, so he could seal the notes closed. 

On each note, he wrote: “it was very kind of you to have me over. Thank you.”

Spock put the notes in the jar, amongst two that were already there, and walked quickly downstairs.

“Damnit Jim, will you stop eating all of the chocolate chips?”

“You are SO boring,” Jim groaned. “Spock! You’re here! Come back me up on this: Bones thinks we can’t skim off the top of the bag of chocolate chips because he says we need to use the every single one. I say since we’re doubling the amount of chips anyway it doesn’t matter. Do you think we should be able to have a little extra?”

Spock’s eyebrows quirked upwards in one fluid motion. He couldn’t begin to understand the question, much less answer it. 

“I suppose for whatever charity or bake sale you’re making this for would need as many cookies as possible, so—,”

“—these are for us, man,” said Bones, looking a bit confused.

“And someone is going to lick the bowl and spoon clean despite the fact he could be inviting disease into his body,” said Leonard. 

Jim grinned. “That’s me!”

“You’re gonna be wheeled out of here in a stretcher because those eggs are on the older side and you’re basically begging your own body to fight you.”

“Whatever, Doctor McCoy,” said Jim, with a heavy amount of sarcasm. “Alright, Spock’s neutral so I’m making the executive decision: Spock gets a handful of chocolate chips, and then we keep the rest of them for the cookies.”

“Oh...” mumbled Spock. “I didn’t think...aren’t these cookies for an event or something?”

The two of them fell silent. Jim looked actively sad, and Bones—the nickname had already stuck in his mind—looked concerned.

“You were serious about that?” said Jim. “Again, these cookies are for us only. And as tradition calls the chocolate chips and dough must not go to waste!”

Jim poured a handful of chocolate chips into his hand. 

Spock stared at his hand, piled high with chocolate chips, and watched as Jim wrapped up the bag, threw a rubber band around it, and chucked it at Leonard’s back while he was using the mixer.

“Spock,” he said, weakly. “Please save me from Jim. He’s getting on my last nerve.”

“I’m afraid I am unable to do that,” said Spock. 

“Why am I even making you cookies? Goddamn, Jim, you’re a monster. I’ve been housing a damn Cookie Monster for half of my fragile sixteen years of life.” 

Jim started to giggle and repeated the word “Cookie Monster,” to himself a couple times in various silly voices. He was sitting on the countertop and dangerously close to falling off.

Spock noticed the chocolate chips in his hand were beginning to melt, and shoved the whole of them into his mouth. His tastebuds went off like fireworks as he let the chocolate sit in his mouth and slowly melt. His eyes drifted slightly to the right, and his world felt wobbly for a moment.  
He felt like in alternative universe he could easily get drunk off of chocolate.

“Spock?” said Leonard, suddenly and loudly right in front of him.

Spock snapped to attention, covered his mouth with his hand and tried to swallow the chocolate quickly so he could speak. “Yes?”

“You zoned out there for a minute, bud. You alright?”

“Yes,” answered Spock. “I, um...I really like chocolate”

“He is right,” Spock said to Jim. He blinked and eyed Bones again. “But at least I am skinny for a reason. If this is your normal diet, Leonard, you must be terribly unhealthy.”

“Did you just call me skinny for no reason?” 

“I suppose by my own logic that if you do this weekly with Jim you should be...plumper.”

Bones laughed incredulously and for a moment, Spock feared he had said the wrong thing. 

“You know, Bones, I’m starting to really like this one,” said Jim, giggling uncontrollably.

“Okay, I just want to know why Jim was left out of the blame here. He’s got more of a tummy than I do!”

“And it’s backed up behind solid muscle formed by three years of doing basket tosses,” Jim said, exaggerating his muscles as he flexed. “Cheerleader,” he whispered, pointing to himself.

“Right you almost never mention it,” Bones grumbled with a glance skyward and a shake of his head.

“Oh,” said Spock, despite his best efforts. “I believe I have seen you cheer before, Jim. I have been forced to attend many pep rallies and I remember the cheerleaders performing.”

“Oh, isn’t that wonderful, Jim?” Bones smiled cheekily. “He loves being forced to go to your performances!”

“Just because pep rally attendance is mandatory doesn’t mean I dislike the cheerleaders’ performances,” said Spock.

“Oh so you like us!” Jim said with a grin.

Spock noticed that Bones was forming balls of cookie dough and putting them on cookie sheets while neither he nor Jim had touched the ingredients.

“Should we be helping him?” Spock asked, dodging the question.

“No, Bones is the only one allowed to bake.”

“Why?”

“He’s a control freak.”

“I am not!”

“Then why won’t you ever let me help you put the cookie dough on the tray?”

“...You do it wrong.”

Spock watched this back and forth, then noticed them both chuckle as Bones put two trays of cookies into the oven and set a timer.

“Leonard?” sang Jim, his voice sweet and lilting. He seemed to be working up to nicknames when McCoy cut him off with a loud sigh.

“Yes, you may lick the spatula slash bowl and expose yourself to potential salmonella.”

Jim wiggled in his seat as Bones passed him the bowl. His eyes lit up as he grabbed the spatula for himself and passed the bowl towards Spock. 

Spock took the bowl hesitantly and stared down at it with wide eyes. “Are we really allowed? Is it not dangerous?”

Jim cut off Bones before he could even explain: “Listen, Spock,” he began, lips smacking around cookie dough remnants he had already begun suckling from the spatula. “The risk of contracting salmonella from cookie dough is literally less than one percent. I looked it up because that guy over there—,”

“—I have a name,” Leonard said. Jim pointed at him anyway, and in return received a masterful eye roll.

“He was trying to get on my ass about it. So I looked it up and I make a point to eat the dough now in honor of science. That and the fact that we risk death far more by simply driving a car, yet some people drive all their lives and don’t get hurt. We’re only human, Bones: let this young man eat cookie dough. In honor of not only probability, but also science.”

“Christ, you’re the most dramatic person I’ve ever met,” Bones groaned.

“I do like science,” said Spock, hesitantly dipping his hand in the bowl to grab the spoon inside. 

“Et tu, Spock?” he retorted.

Spock shrugged, awkwardly, and took a bite of the cookie dough. It was gooey and bursting with dark chocolate chips that made him reflexively close his eyes as the dough melted in his mouth. He finished the rest of the spoonful in one bite.

“Well, I tried,” Bones conceded, hands flopping at his side. “Spock? We usually watch a movie at this point. You get first pick.”

“Oh. I wouldn’t want to choose anything you two wouldn’t want to watch...”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Jim. 

“Even if you do pick something stupid we’re both too polite to say anything,” Leonard said.”

“You don’t understand,” said Spock, wincing inwardly. “I enjoy...documentaries.”

Bones couldn’t help but let a smile peek through his lips.

Jim seemed to hold his breath for a moment, then let it go and gave Spock a magnanimous smile. “Try us. What subjects do you like?”

Spock had already been avoiding direct eye contact, but now fully turned away from them. He found himself saying, “the ocean. I think it’s cool that we haven’t even discovered such a massive portion of the animals there yet.”

“Let’s start it up.”

They collected on the couch and found a movie streaming about the deep ocean. By the time the cookies came out of the oven, Jim was riveted.

“This is almost as fascinating as space. It’s so...mysterious.”

“I can’t imagine working with astronauts. Shit gets weird out in space.”

Nothing else could be said on the matter, so they kept watching, and Spock kept eating the cookies and chasing them down with ice cold water. Kirk and McCoy had taken a couple each and were grinning by the time Spock, in twenty minutes flat, cleaned off the rest of the plate.

“Have you been severely deprived of chocolate, Spock?”

“I don’t know about deprived,” he said, “or...severely. I, uh...my dad doesn’t allow processed sugar in the house.”  
Jim covered his heart with his hand, his expression pained, as if he had discovered a great tragedy. “You poor thing! How did you survive?”

“Ignorance is bliss, maybe?” Bones guessed.

Spock pointed to Bones to confirm his theory as correct as he cleaned the chocolate off of the corners of his mouth with a napkin.

They moved back up to the bedroom and piled on the bed to watch more tv. Jim, Bones, and even Spock got up frequently to drop notes in the fight jar. 

By the end of the night, Leonard offered his bed to Spock, grumbling his reason under his breath as “You know...you’re the new guest. I don’t know what your relationship with your back was like.”

By the time Jim and Bones were on the ground and cuddled up in their sleeping bags, Spock felt, for the first time since he came over, a little sense of alienation.

Jim and Leonard looked up at him at the same time he realized this. 

“You, uh...comfortable on the bed?” Bones asked.

“To be honest...I’m used to sleeping on a much firmer mattress.”

“That’s no good,” said Bones. “Too sudden of a change in your sleeping habits can mess up your back. You wanna...join us? On the ground?”

Spock tried to contain a smile. “That... sounds like a logical choice.”

Jim grinned and made room for Spock on the floor in between them. When they were finally set up, pillows surrounded the neat little row they laid in.

The feeling of alienation disappeared the moment Spock lied down with Jim and McCoy, and he was surprised how content he was just listening to them talk.

He stared at the glow-in-the-dark stickers on the ceiling that Bones claimed had been set up by his father at one point. He wondered what it would be like to have a father so thoughtful as to give their child something as comforting as stars to put on the roof where their child slept at night. He fell asleep thinking to himself how nice it must be to have something as pleasant as stars to look at on nights when his insomnia hit.

In the morning, the three of them woke, Spock first, followed by Bones, and finally Jim. 

When Jim woke up he found Spock and Bones munching on protein bars and engaging in an intense game of chess.

“Check,” said Spock.

“URGH.”

“Careful, Jim’s asleep—,”

“—I’m awake and I want to play Spock next,” Jim blurted out, his voice thick with sleep. 

“Fine,” said Bones, huffing from the blow of defeat. “I’ll be back with coffee. Hot or iced?”

“I’m queer, Bones. What do you think?”

“Queer people don’t have a claim on iced coffee. If we did, I would make Mrs. Stephan’s Trenta-sized Starbucks travel mugs illegal.”

Spock let out a little giggle. He was in said teacher’s calculus class, and couldn’t help but notice she always had a cup of coffee in her hand that looked big enough to strain her wrist. He had never once seen it empty.

“I wonder if that much caffeine is healthy,” Spock wondered. “Her cup always has coffee in it.”

“It’s not,” Bones griped. “That’s why I would make the stuff illegal. No one, gay or straight, can handle themselves right around iced coffee. Gives them too much power.”

“Why do you have iced coffee on hand when you disapprove of it so?”

“...Jim likes it. Eventually we just...got an iced coffee maker.”

“To be fair I like all coffee,” Kirk pointed out.

“Yeah, you’re so unique in that manner,” said Bones, with a quirk of his brow and a smirk. “Spock? Coffee?”

“Hot, please.”

“A man after my own heart: someone with the decency to not ask for iced coffee in fucking November.”

Jim grinned adoringly, batted his eyelashes, and said, “thank you, Lenny.”

“Ugh. How many times do I have to beg you not to call me that?” 

“At least a hundred more.”

Bones threw up his hands and headed downstairs. While he was out, Jim and Spock started a new game on the chessboard.

Spock started easy on him, but realized by Jim’s second move that he actually knew what he was doing. By his fourth move, Spock’s king was in trouble and he retaliated full force. He only lasted a few more moves until Kirk successfully won the game.

“You are incredibly skilled,” remarked Spock. “Your instincts for strategy, planning, and logic are remarkable.”

“You don’t have to be nice to me,” Jim said, with a shrug. “I’m just a lucky guy.”

Spock looked up as Bones came back in, balancing their coffee in his hands.

“I don’t think I believe in luck,” said Spock. “But you shouldn’t sell yourself short. If anyone should consider themselves lucky, you would be on top of my list.”

“You might have a point,” said Jim, as they all took their coffee and gathered in front of the tv again so they could drink their coffee in comfortable silence.

By the time Spock got the text from his mother that she was outside and ready to pick him up, Bones and Jim rushed forward to the dresser towards the fight jar.

“Oh yes...that,” said Spock, with a hint of embarrassment in his voice. The two of them were tearing through the notes to find the ones written out to Spock, and finally grabbed Spock’s tote bag and stuffed it full of notes. The jar was still half full after Spock had his notes.

“Perfect!” said Jim. “Sorry, we may have gone a little overboard.”

“See ya next time,” said Bones, with a small smile on his lips. “You know...if you want...”

“Yes, I do,” said Spock. “Let me know...”

He left after that. Amanda asked him questions about the sleepover, and Spock answered them, all the while his mind occupied by thoughts of the notes in his bag.

When he got home he locked the door to his room behind him and emptied his bag onto his bed. He sorted through his personal effects and put them back. He gathered the notes and got under his covers and began to read them, one by one

“I like that you have a sweet tooth!”- J.K.

“I like that you were polite with my idiot friend”- there was a version from both Jim and Bones, which made a full smile bloom in Spock’s heart and gently touch his lips.

“You’re really polite. I’m excited to learn more about you”-J.K.

“I like that you love chocolate. I do too. don’t tell Jim”- L.M.

“I’m so glad I finally found a perfect match for me in chess!”—J.K.

“You’ve got a good smile. I also like that you don’t have to physically smile for anyone to be able to tell that you’re happy.”—J.K. and L.M.

“You’re smart but in a really genuine and cool way. I can tell you like learning just for the sake of it, not to be better than anyone.”—J.K.

“I like that you got sassy with me during our chess game. You’re alright.”—L.M.

“You’re really kind. I’m glad you’re my lab partner, because chemistry is a tough subject for me and you’re really good at explaining things without making me feel stupid.”—J.K

“I like having you around. You have a nice presence.”—L.M.

Spock arranged the notes into a nice stack again and held them to his heart, which was full and light at the same time. Tears filled his eyes and he let a few fall, before taking the notes up again and reading through them once more.


	2. The Test

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s been a couple weeks since their first sleepovers and the boys have gotten closer!

A week had passed by, but the fact Spock tended not to approach others did not stop Jim and Bones from attaching themselves to his hip. 

Everywhere he turned in the school hallway, he found himself suddenly running into Jim and Leonard. Every time they surprised him, he became more and more pleased to see them. They invited him to sit with them at lunch. He played along despite the fact he thought this was all a fluke. Sure, it was possible they would ditch him after a short period of time like his other attempts at friends had done, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy the attention while it lasted.

He was scheduled to come to Leonard’s place after school and meet them by the flagpole up front. Spock was the first to get there, and for a moment he could feel his heartbeat thundering in his head as he considered the possibility that perhaps they had forgotten about him—or even worse, had decided they didn’t want him around after all.

Then Bones showed up to the flagpole, and those worries disappeared.

“Where is Jim? I thought he didn’t have practice this Friday due to the gap in the football schedule. He doesn’t need to cheer tonight.” 

“That’s still true,” Bones conceded. “But Jim’s got all those cheer friends so it’s hard to get away from them in the afternoons.”

“Ah,” said Spock.

They waited only a moment or two longer before Jim came out of the front of the school, surrounded by a half dozen cheerleaders and football players. Spock had been intimidated by the very people Jim was speaking with: Christine Chapel, and most notably Nyota Uhura. They both seemed too perfect to touch, standing with their hands around each other’s waists and glowing with love when they made eye contact. The group of people included were the senior football team members “Slammin” Scotty, (so called due to his reputation on the football field) and Pavel Chekov, the kicker who seemed to be dating a different girl every time he saw him.

He wondered if maybe down the line he would ever see them again outside of the high school bubble, but he somehow couldn’t imagine running into “Slammin’ Scott” in the grocery store or working beside him.

When Jim approached them he flashed a broad smile, and gave Bones a big bear hug. He did as he had started to practice with Spock: holding his arms out and giving him a questioning look. Spock nodded, and let Jim’s soft yet muscled arms wrap around him. He wished there was a way for him to get to hug Bones in the same manner, but he had kept his respectful distance from Spock since they met. He hoped one day Bones would give him a hug as freely as Jim.

\- [ ] They walked towards Leonard’s car, Jim’s smile starting to relax. The further away they were from the school the more Jim’s expression settled into a neutral one, and Spock caught himself wondering if something was wrong. He had last seen him during their chemistry test, but Spock finished early and got absorbed in homework from other classes.

He wasn’t talking as much as normal, though. They had to turn on the radio since Spock was so quiet and they were creating such an awkward environment. Spock studied McCoy’s face surreptitiously and tried to check if there was tension or worry in his expression. There was a lot of both, but it did not mean necessarily that he wasn’t simply being himself.

At a certain point, Jim piped up and murmured, “Bones? Can we get ice cream tonight?”

Something in the ease of McCoy’s smile confirmed to Spock that Jim was indeed upset over something. If it hadn’t been that, his tone confirmed it.

“Sure thing, buddy,” he said, his blue  
eyes twinkling as he pulled into a gas station.

Jim seemed to relax a little as they picked out junk food for their sleepover. Bones encouraged Spock to buy something for himself and insisted on paying for him. Spock felt uneasy about letting a friend so new pay for him. Spock protested, but Bones returned with such a burning glare he backed off immediately and started to look for something. 

When they approached the cashier, Spock asked Bones why he insisted on buying unhealthy food for him.

“Come on, it’s comforting. You’re telling me you don’t find chocolate comforting?”

“I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant to ask,” he said. “I meant, why did you insist on paying for me?”

He shrugged. “I suppose I don’t see you as the type of guy who would voluntarily treat yourself.”

Spock’s eyebrows lifted upwards in one swift motion. “You don’t?”

“Yeah. You ought to learn to be nicer to yourself. You deserve to relax.”

Spock frowned, his eyes downturned. He checked over his shoulder and saw Jim, still struggling over the slurpee machine. “What makes you think I don’t relax?”

“Just a vibe I get. I think you should do more to decompress. You’re pretty cool when you’re not at school acting like you’ve got a lump of coal up your ass.”

“Excuse me?” 

“I meant what I said. You seem tense. I wonder if maybe you’re a bit like Jim and have to be coaxed into relaxing.”

“That is presumptuous of you,” Spock said, factually. “But...you are also not wrong.”

“Can I ask you about something kinda personal?”

“You may ask me anything. I simply...cannot promise an answer.”

“Fair enough” Bones cackled. “So my question is...what’s up with the sugar ban?”

“My parents are very...practical people. I believe they are scared of type 2 diabetes. It does not run in our family, but they also see no logic in having excessive sweets in the house.” 

“Huh,” he responded. “And you’re alright with all that?”

“They’re my parents,” he said, simply. “I cannot argue with the people who raised me.” 

“This is what I’m talking about: the whole point of being a teenager is doing stuff that’ll disappoint your parents a bit.”

Spock didn’t respond for a moment. When he finally spoke, he said, “My parents are not people who can be argued with. I’ve found my own efforts to be fruitless.”

Bones’s expression changed in a way Spock couldn’t quite decipher. “Then consider it my solemn duty to corrupt your innocence.”

“Innocence?” Spock retorted. “I stand by my comment about you being presumptuous.”

“You’re not innocent, then?”

“Innocence isn’t defined by experience; it is defined by wisdom.”

Bones smirked and approached the counter to line up their stock of junk food. At last, Jim trotted up to them and dropped an armful of food onto the counter. 

Jim mumbled something to Bones about how he could pay him back in the car. Bones handed him the car keys and disappeared with them to go slump in the car.

“Does Jim go quiet often?” asked Spock, unable to shake the eerie feeling he had in his stomach.

“Uh...only when he’s upset,” said Bones, “which seems like the case now that you mention it...” He was multitasking as he put everything in a plastic bag and tried to get his wallet in order.

“Should we do something?”

Bones got out of line and took only a moment to think over the situation. “I think we’ll figure it out soon enough. I’ve got a feeling. C’mon.”

They made it safely back to Bones’s house, and Spock noticed immediately how Jim started in on the ice cream with a plastic spoon from Leonard’s bedside table and chose a movie without a word. 

Spock followed as Bones put his and Spock’s ice cream away downstairs. As they came back up, Spock recognized the movie as “The Wizard of Oz” right away. 

They settled on either side of Jim. When Jim wasn’t looking, Bones made eye contact with Spock and grimaced. Spock crunched his eyebrows together in confusion. Bones huffed and Spock felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He had received a text from Bones, which read: “he is NOT well.”

Spock stared at the text, angling it subtly away from Jim’s line of sight, and typed back: “What should we do?”

A moment later, a message came back, containing only the word “wait.”

So they did. Jim looked worse after he’d eaten. He moved from sitting cuddled close in between Spock and Bones on the bed to lying on his tummy perched on his elbows. he chewed on his thumb, and his foot started to fidget, tapping on the headboard of the bed. Bones and Spock shared another concerned look.

“Jim, did you take your meds today?” 

Spock wished he could have been warned before learning about Jim taking medication—he felt very personally about his own medical situation. 

“Only because we literally just ate, Bones,” Jim mumbled.

“Let me get them to you now.”

“Fine.”

Things went quiet for a moment as Jim continued to chew on the skin around his thumb. After a moment, he shouted “Wait! Bones, stop, seriously!”

Bones narrowed his eyes at Jim, his hands frozen on the backpack. For some reason, he did not let go despite the fact he was standing upright.

“What’s wrong with you? I’m just getting your meds.”

“Nothing is wrong. I’ll get the meds myself, just...”

Jim huffed and sprang off of the bed and darted towards McCoy. He ripped the backpack out of Leonard’s hands and held it to his chest, panting. 

Leonard didn’t resist him when he pulled the backpack out of his hands. He just let it fall from his fingers as he watched Jim with an increasing expression of worry. 

“What’s the matter with you?”

Jim went quiet and crossed his arms. “I don’t know why that’s suddenly your business.”

Spock remembered something from their chemistry class together the previous week. They took their first major test of the semester, just a day or so after his first sleepover with him and Leonard. Jim had been one of the last to finish, and when the test was over he looked rough, with red puffy eyes. He asked to use the restroom, and the teacher let him take his things with him on the way out since they were so close to the next bell. 

“Fine. Get your own meds,” said McCoy, with a shake of his head. He walked towards the bed and sat down again, this time in the middle next to Spock. 

Jim turned his back to them and took out his water bottle and swallowed his meds. “You don’t need to fish through my stuff, you know. A guy should be entitled to just a little privacy every once in the while. I don’t need you acting like my goddamn mom, Bones.”

“Alright, what the fuck is up with you? Take your notes out of the fight jar right now.” 

“No! The fight jar can’t fix everything, and I’m entitled to an apology.”

Spock remembered something: they had gotten their chemistry test results back that day.

“Jim...I apologize for being potentially intrusive, but...if this is about the test, I can help you study for when you retake it,” Spock offered. 

Jim’s expression instantly flattened. “How did you know about that?”

“It’s...a theory.”

Jim looked at them both, his arms crossed and his eyes watering. “I need time alone.”

“Jim,” said McCoy, “I didn’t mean to invade your privacy. I’m sorry. You don’t have to talk about it.”

Jim softened.

“Please. I’m sorry we pried.” 

He flopped down next to them on the bed. For a while he just tried to reign in his tears. McCoy reached out and said “can I, uh...?”

“Yeah.”

He took Jim’s hand. He had rolled to lie on his stomach, and had to reach out to touch him. He accepted his hand and wiped his eyes. 

“I’m sorry I yelled,” Jim whispered.

“It’s okay, Jimbug,” said McCoy. His voice was full of more love than Spock had ever heard. 

“I’m sick of this,” he sighed. “Even on ADHD meds I just...blank. Trying to study after a whole day of classes and cheerleading isn’t working. I’m so damn tired when I get home. When I’m not, I don’t even know how I’m supposed to study.” 

“Those things you mentioned are not your fault,” said Spock. “They are common symptoms of ADHD.”

“Ugh. Yet another reason why I don’t want this getting out. I don’t want pity.”

“I am not pitying you, Jim,” said Spock. “I’m very aware of the problems you are facing.”

Jim chuffed under his breath. “Right. I’m sure you do, mister future valedictorian.” 

“I know firsthand, Jim,” Spock pressed. 

“Please,” Jim scoffed.

“Come on, Jim, you don’t know everything about the guy.”

“I don’t? I know he’s smart as hell and has never lost his shit during a test before in his life.”

“Jim, cut it out!” Bones snapped. “You’re taking to mister Autism here, if you don’t recall. And you don’t know everything about Spock.”

Spock’s throat felt like it was filling with salt water. He wanted to speak up, but he had no idea why.

“I...have dyslexia, actually,” Spock murmured. “My essays tend to need a lot of editing due to typos. I’ve been told you’re good in English class...perhaps you could proofread my essays and I could tutor you in chemistry in return.”

“You’re not going to get anything out of that deal,” Jim said. “You saw my meds, right? My brain doesn’t absorb anything in class. I’m an idiot; it’s not any deeper than that.”

Bones sighed and cast a look towards Spock—a cry for help. 

“Jim,” Spock said, sitting up so he could look at him straight on. “I have been playing chess since kindergarten.”

“What’s your point?” 

“How long have you been playing?”

“About a year. I just play on an app on my phone.” 

“You beat me in chess. Several times. With very little apparent effort, might I add.”

“So I’m good at chess. What does it matter?”

“What matters is I’ve heard you analyze Shakespeare in class. I’ve listened to you read his sonnets and stress the iambic pentameter in the most breathtaking way, I—,” he cut himself off, aware he was coming off too strong. His cheeks flushed as he looked down at his hands.

Even Bones was watching him intently. “He’s right,” he backed him up. “Keep going, Spock.”

“...You really are smart. That’s what I meant. Intelligence comes in many forms and we cannot all be smart in every single way. I’m not. Leonard is not.”

“Yeah, that’s fine to think about until you remember my grades are on the line. I’m failing already. I’m this close to getting kicked out of cheer.”

“It’s early in the semester,” countered Spock.

“I had a panic attack during the first test, Spock,” he admitted finally, his voice breaking again. 

“So...you’re normal, then,” said Bones. “I did the same during a Spanish test in middle school. All year, actually.”

“Spelling tests,” mumbled Spock. “It’s how they figured out the dyslexia...and the Autism.”

“I was the same with math,” Bones chimed in. 

Jim wiped his face and went quiet.

A sharp pain hit Spock in the ribs. Bones had elbowed him. He frowned at him. Bones pointed to the fight jar. 

Spock sprang to attention and brought the post-it notes, pens, and the fight jar down to the bed.

“Read your messages,” said Bones. “And as you go, Spock and I are gonna write more.”

Jim’s smile was warm as he started to sort through the notes. He read each one to himself, chuckling and stopping to give a wistful look to each message. 

Bones wrote down the phrase “your hair is pretty. Appreciate it while you have it,” read it out loud, and slapped it onto Jim’s forehead.

Jim giggled and took the note off his forehead. He looked at it, drying the corner of his eye. 

Spock wrote out another one and put it on his bicep. It read: “your arms are really good at hugging.”

Bones put “cute nose” on the flat center of Jim’s face, causing him to laugh and start to genuinely lighten up.

Spock wrote “good brain, despite the lies it tells you” and put it on top of Jim’s head. After reading that one he smiled extra big and motioned for them to come forward and hug him.

Bones came forward, hooking his extra arm around Spock and pulling him forward so he could squash him awkwardly against his best friend.

It felt awkward at first, but eventually Spock’s muscles loosened up and he fit himself amongst the two of them successfully.

“You aren’t going to fail any classes if I have a say in it,” said Bones. “Okay?”

“Okay.”

Spock relaxed against his friends and said. “We’re um...we’re here for you.”

Jim briefly touched his forehead to Spock’s and pulled away quickly. “Vice versa.”

When they were done reading through their notes from the fight jar, Jim took the mason jar and put it on top of Bones’s head. 

They went to bed that night with Bones, Jim, and Spock all sleeping in different positions on Bones’s bed, like a pile of cats.

Jim mumbled a “love you guys” under his breath when they had all gone quiet enough. It was possible he only said it because he was sure the two of them were asleep, but Bones still said “we love you too. Go to sleep.”


End file.
